Crews commend colour coded kit lockers

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) has been working with YPO for many years. More recently, YPO has provided SYFR with a project managed design service in the refurbishment of numerous properties across the region.

This project included SYFR Headquarters, Sheffield, Training and Development Centre, Sheffield, Barnsley Fire Station, Thorne Fire Station, Edlington Fire Station, Lowedges Fire Station and Rivelin Fire Station.

Through the supply of furniture for areas including offices, bedrooms, breakout and dining areas and locker rooms, YPO’s service has included site visits/surveys, 3D space planning, sample supply, order processing, delivery scheduling, installation team management and snagging.

All products have been through rigorous quality and environmental sustainability checks, providing us with a compliant procurement route, and has set a new standard for all properties within the service to follow.

Staff now have ample storage space for the varying types of kit which include new boot lockers, personal lockers, general kit lockers and bespoke drying racks. This, and colour coded lockers per watch, has assisted crews in maintaining and accessing their kit more readily, enabling properties to make the best use of their space within kit rooms and rest rooms.

The most recent office refurbishment at Headquarters has been very well received by all staff and is now a much more vibrant, motivating area to work within. Products were selected to provide different sight lines of furniture for the open space area which doesn’t feel vast and overlooked.

The furniture and different textures have allowed for improved acoustic properties to prevent noise travelling throughout the office, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. There is now a wealth of working environments including hot desks, collaboration areas, meeting booths, meeting pods and new meeting rooms which are inviting and stimulating for meetings.

There are further seating areas in the two new kitchen areas, perfect for bumping into colleagues and catching up – or just to pull up a pew and reflect with a brew and watching the world go by on the window benches. A star of the show is the ‘piano keys’ which are carefully dotted throughout the building to provide privacy and prevent noise transfer.

I have felt very fortunate to have YPO to assist with the projects we have worked on together over the last couple of years. Sam at YPO has felt like an extension of our small in-house team. She has worked to understand the core of our need and offer different options that works best for us.

YPO understands that we are a public organisation, and with that have a wide range of stakeholders to satisfy. They also understand that we don’t have the capacity or time to track deliveries or chase suppliers, so they proactively take on this role – which is an absolute lifeline for ensuring everything goes to plan.

YPO has enabled us to keep in line with project timelines and budget. Without the assistance of YPO we would need to spend more time and money understanding our procurement routes to market which would undoubtedly add a hefty timeframe to each project we have on the go at any one time.

“As Station Manager overseeing the building of the new Barnsley Fire Station, I have been impressed with the level of detail and support provided by YPO in the design, layout, delivery, and installation of our new furniture.

“The room layouts were tweaked a few times by us which was accommodated happily by YPO ensuring we got each room just right. I was kept up to speed on delivery times and the few snags that were found on delivery were rectified quickly and efficiently and didn’t impact on the overall program. The station is now operational and has been well received by the fire crews moving in. Thank you to Sam and the team at YPO.”

Chris Mee, Barnsley Fire Station Manager.

For any furniture enquiries, please get in touch with YPO.

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